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Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Nutty Fruit-Filled Muffins

On a recent trip down the baking aisle I noticed some parchment paper cups. I had never seen them before. I just want to say that these take the guesswork out of muffin baking. Cupcakes are a no brainer . . . you use paper cups. But muffins are always a guess. I like the way they look without the paper, but I don't want to chance having to pry them out of the pan. For this reason parchment paper cups are great to use for butter tarts and muffins that can leave behind a sugary or fruity mess. The following recipe comes from my friend, Karin, shared during the days when we would get together for coffee and play dates with our kids.

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup butter, melted (or oil)

jam filling

Streusel

1/4 cups nuts

3 Tbsp flour

3 Tbsp sugar

3 Tbsp butter, room temp

1/4 tsp nutmeg

Method:

Prepare muffin tins and pre-heat oven to 400 F.

Combine streusel ingredients, using a pastry blender to make a crumb mixture. Chill.

In a mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients.

In a separate small bowl, combine eggs, milk and melted butter, then stir into dry ingredients.

Fill each muffin tin with about a tablespoon of batter, making a small indentation.

Place a teaspoon of jam on each center and cover with the rest of the batter.

@Shirley & @Melanie…Yes I get the baking cups at Safeway. In all brands the 'standard' or even 'large' size paper muffin cups are a bit too small. At Safeway I buy ™Reynolds brand and in a size GIANT. This size fits the cups in the tray perfectly. I first oil (or spray) the inside of the cooking tray before placing in the paper liners.I have a wonderful moist muffin recipe that I frequently make and I vary it (eg. from bran to cornmeal, etc.) With all recipes I use less sugar than it asks for. For this recipe, rather than ½ cup sugar I used ⅓ cup sugar, and they are never bland or lacking. The jam inside gives these a nice kick.Great advice I got from my Mom is to NEVER overmix the ingredients. FOLD the ingredients in with as few strokes as possible. This will ensure a moist muffin result.